Hi Bob,

Here are some standard troubleshooting steps that may resolve the issue.

1. Please check if you have Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) enabled. You can do that by clicking the shield icon at the left of the address bar.
   • If ETP is enabled, try disabling it.
2. If the problem is not fixed, try clearing Firefox cache.
3. If it does not help, also try clearing cookies and data for the website you experience troubles with (warning: you will be logged out on this website).
4. If it also does not help, try running Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode. If the problem doesn't persist, please follow the steps from this article to troubleshoot further.

Does any of that help?

Also, what do you mean by reporting the issue to Firefox? What exactly did you do? (I'm afraid that can't be done from this website.)

Denys,

Thank you!!! Each of those makes a lot of sense. But given I encountered the problem twice in 6 weeks. That interval would seem to make it more challenging.

Assessing the impact of anything I do *now* is difficult. The cache will refill, so will the cookies and data for many sites, and I assume that stopping ETP for months is probably not recommended. Though I readily acknowledge it is a candidate since it is ON (I didn't know that and had never heard of it ;-)) and brags about blocking "over 1000 trackers since July 2025."

So my question now is do you think if I encountered the problem again

• would it be worthwhile to implement changes one by one in sequence and see if that had impact.

(I appreciate this is a holiday season and most folks have plans

• feel free to give me a one line response saying
  • you can't answer the questions
  • you can't answer these questions until after [date]

My would proceed in the sequence you propose

1. Clearing cache
   • is straightforward and global
2. Clearing cookies and data for "the website" is trickier
   • the wrinkle in financial actions is that they always
     • start on one site asking for payment
     • and then move to the financial that handles the transaction
   • but since the problem is only apparent at the financial site, and could well represent an interaction involving data passed between the two sites. I would assume it makes sense to clear cookies and data for both concurrently
3. Troubleshooting mode and (4) beyond
   • I don't know much about those but figure they are progressively more complex

In trying to implement this, I would assume that as I go from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4

• it would make sense to
  • (a) close all browser windows
  • (b) implement all proceeding actions as well as the next "new"action
    • that is if I do (1) and it doesn't solve the problem
    • then going to (2), means I do both (1) and then (2) and then ...
  • (c) quit Firefox and restart it

Please note that you did not suggest that one of my four extensions would be expected to be involved. If they were I assume it would impact almost any financial site and would be a more widely know problem.

Your suggestions do indeed help. I'm just trying to understand the likely best way to implement investigation of a problem that could involve complex interactions.

Thank you again -- very much.

Bob

Moderator note: This post has been edited to correct the formatting.

I'd be happy to explain 🙂

You are right that, given the time range, it will make sense to try this when you encounter the issue next time. The sequence is to do the simplest steps first, and then move to those that are trickier and more invasive.

1. Disabling ETP will only disable it for a single domain (just like with cookies). Generally, ETP is useful (and indeed blocks trackers), but sometimes it may block legitimate scripts (or trackers that the website relies on to function properly). You can disable it for the problematic website right now (especially if you don't use it often), though, to be honest, I don't believe it's the cause.
2. Clearing cache is global, but probably worth doing when you encounter the issue.
3. Good catch, it will indeed make sense to clear cookies for all the websites in the redirect chain.
4. Troubleshooting Mode basically restarts Firefox with extensions, themes and hardware acceleration disabled. This step is here as an attempt to make sure your extensions don't cause the issue. It's worth checking because even if none of them breaks the website consistently, there may be something specific in your whole setup (something that we can't even think of).

You don't have to restart Firefox between the steps. Only Troubleshooting Mode will restart the browser, but you will get a corresponding prompt.

You should indeed follow the steps consequently. Repeating the previous steps (except for ETP) is indeed the cleanest way, though I can't insist on it.

I understand that troubleshooting this may not be the best experience, but it may be the only way to determine whether the issue is caused by Firefox itself or by the website(s) failing to handle cookies properly or your extensions. Since you can't try this immediately, I will add the last step for the future (in case none of the above helps): 5. Create a new Firefox profile and try there. If the new profile management system is not available for you and you use about:profiles, remember to set your current profile as default again after creating a new one.

• If the issue reproduces in a new profile, it should be reported on WebCompat.
• If not, you'll hopefully be able to move to a new profile preserving your data, but... I'm not sure it's worth the time, given that you encounter the issue quite rarely.

Again, try the steps (1)-(4) first, and hopefully they will help! And please post here when you do. Merry Christmas!

Denys,

Thank you very much.

Detailed, clear, focused, and forward-looking.

As good as it gets in computer / internet related help.

If when the problem occurs, I will go thru the steps and then post again.

All best wishes for the New Year.

Bob